NYC
by Glee Let Me Down
Summary: One Shot. Sam and Kurt go on an adventure on their last night in New York.


Sam shoved his hands in his pockets and shook his hair out of his eyes as he made his way down the hotel hallway. A group of four or five girls was scurrying past them, and he could tell that they were from one of the placing show choirs because they were all in stage make-up. They were all scowling.

"I told her to check her Velcro!" One of the girls was ranting in a hushed tone. "Fifteen points for a damn costume malfunction. We could've won."

Sam instantly hated the girls, even though he didn't know them. He hated that they were complaining. They were lucky that they made finals. They were lucky that they'd had something to do today.

The New Directions' flight home wasn't until the following morning. They'd originally anticipated performing again, and now they were stranded in New York with nothing to do. Mr. Shuester had scored them all a tour of Ellis Island; something only Puck (surprisingly) had shown any interest in. Shue claimed that they might as well take advantage of the opportunity to really be tourists. It seemed that everyone else had stopped caring that they were in the greatest city of the world. They just wanted to fly back to Lima where they weren't constantly reminded of their failure.

Sam went up to the vending machines, prepared to purchase his daily ration of Dorritos. He was doing it partially out of hunger and partially because he'd needed an excuse to leave the room. Finn was laying face down on the couch with his headphones on, and Tina and Mike were making out on one of the beds. The rest of the guys were in the girls' room, but he hadn't wanted to be in there either. All anyone was doing was sitting around and talking about what they would do differently to win nationals next year.

"Did you hear?" A voice suddenly asked him. He spun around, and found Kurt Hummel smiling at him. He instantly smiled back. It was always easy to smile when Kurt was around.

"…Hear what…?"

"Vocal Adrenaline got second place. First time in years…it was apparently the result of some wardrobe malfunction during finals. It was probably the result of using cheap Velcro instead of snaps. What a waste of their active booster club."

"Well, that's comforting…" Sam chuckled. "If they had won after all that I probably would've shot myself."

Kurt sighed heavily. "To be honest, I'm having trouble even caring," He admitted. "Being in this city has really given me an idea of what life after Lima will be like. It makes show choir seem unimportant. It sort of bothers me that we're wasting our last night here just moping around."

Sam had to agree, "Yeah, I don't know if I'll ever take another vacation like this. I kind of hoped that it would feel more like a vacation and less like business."

Kurt's smile widened. "Well, why don't I help you with that?"

"What do you mean?"

"I've already helped Rachel live her New York dreams, now it's your turn." Kurt shrugged simply. "Let's go out."

He seemed kind of nervous waiting for Sam's reply. "Why…?" Sam asked. "I mean, how…are we allowed?"

"Probably not," Kurt said. "But I'm pretty sure Shuester is out getting hammered somewhere. We'll be fine."

Sam only had to think about it for a minute. If there was anything he needed, it was an adventure, and he knew that Kurt could provide one for him. He hadn't experienced it yet, but he knew that with Kurt's imagination, he would think of a way to make the night exciting. It was all that he needed at the current moment. "Let's do it."

* * *

><p>Sam shivered as a draft came through the under-populated subway tunnel. He looked around and noticed a tall black man with bad posture staring at him from way down the platform. He leaned closer to Kurt.<p>

He whispered, "That guy's so creepy."

"Well, don't look at him!" Kurt snapped, his voice getting higher. Hypocritically, he looked at the man himself.

"Shut up!" Sam grabbed Kurt's shoulders and turned him away. "He'll hear you."

Kurt laughed compulsively and moved out of Sam's grip. Soon both of them were giggling uncontrollably like two little girls. Luckily, the man was, for the most part, out of earshot.

"Dude, what if he has a gun?" Sam hissed stupidly. "What if he thinks we're mocking him and he has a gun?"

"Sam, he doesn't have a gun."

"What if he tries to mug us…?" Sam's eyes widened dramatically. As this point he was just having fun, trying to get a reaction from Kurt. "…Do you think I could take him?"

Kurt sighed, and then just to be nice, he said, "Of course you could take him, Sam. You could take anyone you wanted to take."

"Yeah, I'm pretty much the Hercules of McKinley," Sam flexed cockily and put his hands behind his head. Kurt blinked at him, trying to ignore the fact of how hot he looked.

"You're a piece of work." He muttered.

Sam seemed very proud of that. Suddenly, he put his arm around Kurt. "We should pretend we're together."

Kurt let out a single, unnecessarily loud laugh. "What…?" He felt uncomfortable with Sam so close to him and felt guilty when he realized that it was a good kind of uncomfortable.

"He won't want to mess with you if he knows you have me protecting you,"

"Okay," Kurt stepped away from him. "Your logic is flawed in two ways. Firstly, he's more likely to pick on us for being gay. Secondly, if he thinks we're just friends do you think he'll just expect you to stand back and complacently allow him to kick me repetitively in the ribs?"

Sam blushed adorably. "Okay, I guess I didn't really think it through."

They heard the train coming up the tunnel.

"I think he's safe, Sam," Kurt chuckled. Sam nodded agreeably, but couldn't shake the urge to put his arm around Kurt again.

* * *

><p>For a while, Sam hadn't known what the feelings were. When he first joined Glee club, watching Kurt's brilliant performances and listening to his comments witty and hilarious one-liners were the things he most looked forward to about rehearsal. He looked forward to seeing Quinn too, but he could see her outside of Glee club. Kurt had sort of pushed him away, and even though that bothered him, he'd tried to tell himself that it didn't make a difference in the long run.<p>

When Kurt left McKinley, Sam couldn't deny that he'd been inconsolably upset. He'd tried so hard to help Kurt out. It made him sick to see Kurt being harassed for the things that Sam admired about him. All Sam could think after Kurt walked out of the choir room the day he announced his transfer was that it wasn't fair. When Quinn asked him why he was moping hours later, she couldn't believe that he was still thinking about Kurt. She adored that fact that he had so much compassion for his friends. At the time, Sam thought that was all it was.

On Valentines Day, Quinn hadn't expected him to go to Kurt's "Lonely Heart's Club Dinner" by himself. She told him that she was surprised, because he hadn't really known Kurt that long and wasn't actually close enough friends with any of the other kids in Glee club to justify spending extra time with them. He didn't really care about the kids in Glee club, actually. He sat alone at a table near the door, really excited to see Kurt perform again. That's when he noticed Blaine for the first time. He and Kurt kept flashing each other seemingly love-sick grins throughout the entire performance. Sam felt the same way seeing it as he had seeing Quinn kiss Finn. He didn't know what that was about. He figured that he just didn't think it was fair that this Blaine kid got to be Kurt's friend when he wanted to be Kurt's friend first. Then, he realized what a baby he was being. He needed to get over the fact that Kurt had pushed him away many moons ago. He put Kurt from his mind, and focused on Quinn…then Santana…instead.

He realized he was right about Blaine though. Kurt brought Blaine to Rachel's party a few weeks later and it was _obvious_ that they were together. Then, at regional, they exposed the audience to all kinds of eye-porn during their "Candles" Duet (which really shouldn't have been a duet, seeing how it was a song about being fine by yourself…were the Warblers _trying _to be ironic? Or was Blaine just that stupid). When he saw the two of them sharing an armrest during the "Night of Neglect" benefit, he was sure they were together. But…obviously he was paying too much attention and it really didn't matter.

It was actually only a few days later that he bumped into Kurt when he was delivering a Pizza to Dalton. Blaine and Kurt met him together at the front entrance. He was instantly horrified. He'd told himself that the likelihood of seeing them was slim, seeing how he knew that neither of them lived in the dorms because he'd overheard Kurt and Mercedes mention a movie night at Blaine's house. Kurt explained that they were working on a project, and then told Sam that it was surprising that he was able to balance a job with Sports, Glee, and tutoring (which was a crucial part of his schedule due to his dyslexia). Sam just sort of crumbled at that point, and admitted to Kurt that his family was having trouble. It was just supposed to be a short explanation. He never expected Kurt to actually care.

When Kurt came back to McKinley, he wasn't trying to push Sam away anymore. The two of them had a quiet friendship, but Sam took that over no friendship at all. Whenever Kurt showed up at his Motel with a bag of hand-me-downs, or left-over food from one of he and his dad's kitchen experiments, Sam reminded himself of why he'd been so taken with Kurt Hummel in the first place. It was just…his spirit. He had this compassionate, take-charge energy that was more refreshing than anything Sam had ever seen before.

He told himself that his admiration was completely platonic. But lately he'd been having these strange compulsions. Lately, he'd wanted nothing else but to be close to Kurt. When he stood close to him, his heart raced and his palms sweat. He could feel Kurt passing that wonderful energy along to him. He felt charged when Kurt was around; alive…

Kurt's ski ball missed all of the holes and tumbled back toward him. He bowed his head dejectedly.

"It's okay!" Sam encouraged him. "You have another shot."

"Why are you making me do this…?"

"You said you wanted to learn!" Sam cried defensively.

"I also said I wanted to give up and you ignored it." Kurt reminded him. He took the ball out of the gutter and carelessly tossed it. It missed again. "Oh darn. I guess I lost." He said uncaringly.

Sam couldn't even be mad, because Kurt was just too cute. He had fought the urge to grab Kurt's arm and help him; physically teaching him how to throw. He realized that it would seem like something out of a bad Disney Channel Movie, and fortunately restrained himself.

Kurt pouted, as they walked away from the game. They'd come into the Greenwich arcade because they'd wanted a taste of the New York nightlife, and obviously couldn't get into any real clubs. Both of them refused to admit that it was pointless; they could just go to an arcade in Lima.

"Well, I'm officially bored," Sam told Kurt.

"Good," Kurt smiled. "I was waiting for you to get bored."

It was getting late, so Sam said. "Do you just want to go back to the hotel?" He wasn't sure why he was suggesting that. Going back to the rest of the choir; loosing out on more time with Kurt was the exact opposite of what he wanted to do.

Luckily, Kurt shook his head. "Let's go through the park! I heard it's a totally different experience at night."

Sam grinned. "Okay, but we better not get mugged."

When they exited the Arcade, Kurt threw his head back and looked up at the apparently starless sky. He took a deep breath of the city air, and let out a heavy sigh. "Would it be way too gay of me to frolic through the streets?" He asked.

Sam chuckled. "Naw…frolicking would suite you."

Kurt started off prancing slowly. "Will you…frolic with me?" He asked, wiggling his eyebrows obnoxiously. Sam pressed his lips together, unable to answer. "Come on, Sam. I promise you we'll get there faster."

And then Sam's face lit up. "You think you can get there faster than me?"

Kurt started skipping a little faster. Sam took this as a challenge and accepted it, breaking into a sprint.

"Damn you Evans!" Kurt screamed, tearing after him.

Sam beat him to the park, but barely. When they were there, they both fell down onto a grassy patch, laughing.

"You're fast…" Sam panted. "I didn't expect that from you."

"Never underestimate me. I have a hell of an athletic side," Kurt said, then coughed into his elbow. "You know, I played football for a week sophomore year."

Sam didn't believe this. "No way, you should've stuck with it. We could've been teammates."

Kurt rolled his eyes, "I had better things to do; better places to be…"

Sam could respect that. He hopped back up to his feet and extended his hand, to help Kurt up. They continued to stroll down the path together. Kurt's breathing was still heavy.

"God, this feels good," He told his friend. "I know city air is supposed to be worse for you, but my mind seems so much clearer here."

Sam stared at the glow of the lamp-post-light reflecting off Kurt's perfect skin. It looked like it would be nice to touch. "I know what you mean."

Kurt quickly looked back at Sam, his eyes sparkling. "I don't even feel like we lost…" He said, his voice lowering as if he was paranoid that Santana would jump out of the bushes and maul him.

Sam's eyes sparkled back. He nodded silently. He knew he should be looking ahead of him, seeing how he was walking, but all he wanted to do was look at Kurt. He stopped in his tracks and turned to face him. "We got New York out of all this…" He heard himself say, although he wasn't really sure what he meant.

"Exactly…!" Kurt exclaimed. "It's amazing here! The trip is so worth it, even though we lost."

Sam's voice was getting quieter. "You really make it seem that way…" He was staring at Kurt's lips now. All he could think of was the passing of energy…he wondered how it would feel to kiss Kurt. He didn't even think about the fact that he was a guy. He just wanted to kiss Kurt.

Kurt sighed again and put his hands behind his back. He skipped away and Sam trailed behind him. _"NYC…" _Kurt started singing to himself. _"Just got here this morning: three bucks; two bags; one me…_" Then, he started cackling. He turned to Sam, clearly embarrassed. "Please don't tell anyone I know the words to Annie. I'd loose every last drop of credibility."

"Stacy was in our church's production of Annie in Nashville," Sam admitted. "I don't judge. I'm used to it…"

Kurt cackled again. He started spinning down the path with his arms flying away from him. He stumbled a bit, and then kept going.

"What are you doing?" Sam laughed. "How much coffee have you had today?"

Kurt stopped and started shuffling back over to Sam. "Too much coffee…not nearly enough sleep," Kurt admitted. "I don't do well away from my own bed."

"I thought I was starting to detect a little slap-happiness…" Sam grinned.

Kurt kept walking toward him. "It's mostly just happiness."

Before Sam knew it, Kurt had reproached and was standing face-to-face to him.

"I love New York." He shrugged. "Tonight…it's perfect."

Sam nodded. They stared into each other's eyes, and it was like they were agreeing. They kissed each other in unison. No one took initiative; it was perfectly mutual. Kurt grabbed Sam's shoulders and Sam took Kurt's waist. It started off soft, but soon Sam had tugged Kurt closer to him so their chests touched.

He would've never expected it to be so easy. Kurt definitely seemed like the type of person to immediately acknowledge that he was making a mistake and that his boyfriend was too important to him. But he didn't, he was the one to pry open Sam's mouth with his tongue. Sam knew that Kurt was too giddy, that it was the lack of sleep and getting caught up in the moment, but he was in no way willing to stop him.

Kurt grabbed a handful of Sam's hair, and then pulled his face away. He said, "You totally did…"

"What…?" Sam was legitimately confused.

"You're totally gay, and you totally dyed your hair. I was right all this time."

Sam was kind of offended that his hair, of all things, was what Kurt was thinking about as he kissed him. Then, he realized that the hair was a lot more than hair to Kurt. "I don't know what I am," He admitted. "But the hair…"

"It's from a bottle!" Kurt cried. "See, I am always right!"

"Shut up," Sam went back in and kissed him. It went on for a good fifteen minutes, then Kurt pulled away again.

"Damn it…"

Okay, here it was. Sam took his arms off of Kurt. "What…?"

"This isn't me, Sam…" He sighed. "I'm not the kind of person who falls into the arms of the _only _sexually questionable guy on the school trip just because I'm away from my boyfriend."

Sam suddenly felt sick. "Is that all I am to you…?"

Kurt realized his mistake. "No…" He said quickly. "No…I mean, I had the biggest crush on you back before I even knew…and if I weren't with Blaine this would be perfect…"

Sam wanted to fight him, he really did. But he couldn't think of any good comebacks. He remembered how Kurt had called him "honorable" once. He kind of wanted to stick to that. "No, that's cool…"

"But," Kurt continued lightly. "There are a lot of gay guys at Dalton. Now that I know you're into boys, I could totally hook you up."

"You know what, thanks, but I'm not really down with that…" Sam said quietly.

He couldn't let his disappointment show. He couldn't make it seem like he'd been expecting anything. He realized that Kurt had suddenly realized how awkward things were going to be now. There was a silence between them now, clearly filled with remorse.

"Why don't we head back to the hotel," Kurt said. "Um…I'm getting tired."

Sam had never seen anyone come down from caffeine high so quickly.


End file.
